Sports Day

Universities in China have annual sports meetings where departments compete against one another in track & field events. Thursday and Friday were sports days here in Qufu.


When we arrived at the stadium we wondered how we would ever find our students. . .

but they roared with excitement when they saw us, so it was pretty clear where we should sit.

Sports Day has a lot of rules for students. For instance,

1. Freshmen and sophomores are required to attend.
2. Must sit in the stands from 7am-5pm (with a lunch break) for the two days of the events.
3. Must turn in ID to use the restroom. . .and you only have 3 minutes.
4. May drink water but may not eat anything (and there are people policing the stands to check)
5. May not read or bring textbooks.
6. Must wear your department jacket (even though it's hot).

Good thing there's not a rule against these cool hats!

The girl in orange is running for the Foreign Language Department. Our department came in 9th place overall out of 11 departments. There was much celebration.

And every department does a massive dance which is pretty entertaining if for no other reason than that some dance teams are as large as 400 people.

Easter Eggs

Easter Egg Hunt! We were a little short on eggs, but that didn't stop the fun. We had about 30 plastic eggs from America filled with candy (for about 50-60 students) and the rest were dyed boiled eggs. The college students raced outside in excitement for their first ever Easter Egg Hunt--complete with Easter Bunny Mallary.



And one egg had a special note inside. The lucky person to find this egg won a big stuffed rabbit. Everyone was in awe of this lucky girl.

Egg Toss--and inevitably, somebody gets messy!

Egg Toss Champions!

"Balance the egg on the spoon" relay. We told them to go fast, but no one did. They were extra careful. Out of five teams, there was not even one broken egg.

After the Egg Olympics, the students came inside and watched a short clip about the true meaning of Easter, learned more about Easter traditions, and our teammate beautifully sang, "My Redeemer Lives."

Chip's Chewable: Inside China's Olympic 'system'

Chew on this:  "Sunday is normally a day of rest in China - but not for the country's top divers.  While many people might be contemplating a good lunch or a visit to the cinema, divers Wu Minxia and He Zi are in the gym."  (Please click on the title to read the entire article and watch the short video)

Birthdays Rock!

I have always been a huge lover of birthdays, both others and my own. I think birthdays are a great reason to celebrate with friends and family! And my first China birthday didn't let me down.

I received packages from my parents, Chip's parents, and my grandparents. So on my birthday I was able to wear a new shirt from my mom. I talked to most of my family on my birthday, including a Skype call with my sister & her two cute kiddos.

For dinner, my team made delicious Mexican food and carrot cake (complete with 28 candles).

Then at 10pm, me and my teammates, Alison and Tarah, went out for foot massages!

The most memorable part of the day was my Sophomore Culture class. They surprised me with a crown, cake, singing (in English and Chinese), flashing powerpoint of appreciation, and a scrapbook of photos with one page for each of the 37 students in the class. They all wrote meaningful and loving words. You can check out some examples below:

And then, some students made me a birthday video. It is silly, but I absolutely love it.

I also received many Facebook birthday wishes.
If you sent one, thanks for making my 28th birthday stupendous!

San Kong

San is the Chinese word for three, and Kong zi is the Chinese name for Confucius. Because Qufu is the hometown of the great sage and philosopher, Confucius, there are three UNESCO sites here: Confucius Temple, Mansion, and Cemetery.
Check out our photos after spending the day touring all three sites.

The Temple of Confucius



Multiple altars for sacrifice


And some still sacrificing today:





Many ancient scripts and art dating back to the 5th and 6th century B.C.



The Mansion of Confucius





Family Garden


Confucius Cemetery
(the largest family cemetery in the world)


The tomb of Confucius


There were acres and acres of gravestones and purple flowers!

Additional information from the UNESCO World Heritage Site:

The temple, cemetery and family mansion of Confucius, the great philosopher, politician and educator of the 6th–5th centuries B.C., are located at Qufu, in Shandong Province. Built to commemorate him in 478 B.C., the temple has been destroyed and reconstructed over the centuries; today it comprises more than 100 buildings. The cemetery contains Confucius' tomb and the remains of more than 100,000 of his descendants. The small house of the Kong family developed into a gigantic aristocratic residence, of which 152 buildings remain. The Qufu complex of monuments has retained its outstanding artistic and historic character due to the devotion of successive Chinese emperors over more than 2,000 years.